


Captain's Pet

by Cinerari



Category: Captain Harlock
Genre: Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 03:50:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16846558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinerari/pseuds/Cinerari
Summary: Harlock and Tochiro take in a mangy stray.





	Captain's Pet

**Author's Note:**

> An old fic written for Harlock week for the prompt "favorite pet." I mean, honestly.

“And here I thought you didn’t want a pet,” Tochiro said, grinning.

“He’s not mine,” I muttered as I skimmed our navigation route.

“He’s sleeping on your bed.”

I breathed a sigh through my nose. I’d been trying to ignore that fact. “I’ve gotten onto him for it plenty of times, but he never listens. Always hops right back up. Maybe I should invest in a spray bottle.”

Tochiro barked a laugh. “He does hate baths.”

I tried not to think too hard about that with him passed out at the foot of my bed, his breaths loud enough to count as snores. I should have checked for fleas the moment we let him board.

“This is your fault,” I said as I tapped out an adjustment to the route. There were too damn many machine men for even the roundabout ways to be safe. We would have to get into some sort of skirmish. “You’re the one who said we should let him board.”

“But you said he could stay.”

“What was I supposed to do? He wouldn’t stop whining.”

“Shut up. You know you like him.”

I huffed a laugh. “Not when he’s making a mess of the ship, but I guess you do that too sometimes, and I still like you.”

“Hey!”

I couldn’t be bothered to hide my grin. “Well if you don’t mind him so much, take him back to your room. He can sleep by your feet – keep ‘em warm.”

I looked up to find Tochiro’s brow puzzled. “Does he really just stay there?”

“Until I kick him off. Then he starts howling, and I never get any sleep.”

“Does he know he has his own bed?”

“You’d think not.” Giving up on our course, I flicked the projection off and stood to stretch the kinks from my back. “We might run into some trouble in the next few days, so I guess he has the right idea. Better get some sleep while we can.”

Tochiro mumbled something about how he was tired of trouble as I walked to my bed and tugged off my gloves. When I stood right in front of the little bed-stealer, I slapped my hands together so hard they stung from the clap. It worked like a charm, and he jolted up. “What?” he squawked, messing his hands across his face in an effort to wipe away sleep and the traces of drool. “Are we being attacked?” His brow furrowed as he looked up at my frown. “Did I break something?”

“I hope not,” I said. “But I would like my bed back.”

“Aw, your bed’s plenty big,” he grumbled, slumping back down against the blankets. “I’ll just take the corner.”

“What’s wrong with your bed?”

“It’s too hot in there. Your room’s cold.”

“Maybe he’s lonely,” Tochiro called. “Let him stay.”

“M’not lonely,” Nazca mumbled, already half asleep again. “I have plenty of friends.”

“Oh? And who’re they?” Tochiro asked.

“Hm, I got you two anyway.”

“Anyway?” I echoed. I supposed we were friends in an odd way. For all my picking on him, I did like the kid. He reminded me a lot of a younger Tochiro. But I wasn’t so sure he could think of many other friends. From the rare stories I heard him mumble when the men let him drink a bit too much, he’d lost most of the people close to him.

So what was one night of him sleeping at the foot of my bed? He did make for a good foot-warmer.

“Alright,” I said. “You can stay, but don’t make a habit of it.”

He looked like he might have already been asleep. I doubt he heard me.


End file.
